Morocco's GDP forecasted to drop 1.3% by 2050 if current environmental policies remain the same

Morocco will see GDP drop 1.3 percent by 2050 and 41.7 percent by 2100, if it maintains its current environmental policies, said a report released Monday at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.

“Loss and damage day,” a study commissioned by Christian Aid, highlights the devastating economic impact climate change will inflict on the world’s most vulnerable countries, underlining the need for a robust system for dealing with loss and damage and much greater action to reduce emissions.

According to the report, 65 of the most vulnerable nations will see GDP drop 20 percent on average by 2050 and 64 percent by 2100 if the world heats up 2.9 degrees Celsius.

The report ranked The Moroccan kingdom as the 61st most vulnerable country to the GDP drop among 65 affected countries.

Eight of the top 10 most affected countries are in Africa, with two in South America. All 10 face GDP damage of more than 70 percent by 2100 under our current climate policy trajectory, and 40 percent even if global warming is capped at 1.5C.

The country facing the worst GDP loss is Sudan, which in September was left reeling from heavy rains and flash floods affecting more than 300,000 people.

The Sudani GDP is expected to drop 32 percent by 2050, and 84 percent by 2100.

“Africa has done the least to cause climate change yet this report shows it will face the most severe consequences. That is deeply unjust,” said Mohamed Adow, director of Nairobi-based climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa, according to the report.

Even with committing to the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal, 1.5C, the vulnerable countries would take a GDP hit of 13 percent by 2050 and 33 percent by the end of the century, the study commissioned by Christian Aid said.

To date, Earth’s average surface temperature has risen 1.1C compared to late 19th-century levels.

The findings of the newly issued report show that more than a third of the world’s nations urgently need help to build up resilience if their economies are to withstand the onslaught of heatwaves, drought, floods, and storms made more intense and deadly by global warming.

“The ability of countries in the Global South to sustainably develop is seriously jeopardized,” continued lead author Marina Andrijevic from Humboldt University in Berlin, “policy choices that we make right now are crucial for preventing further damage.”

To date, rich governments have committed only modest sums to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts,

So far, some countries have signed up to pledges to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, with separate deals on phasing out coal, ending foreign fossil fuel funding, and slashing methane.

However, worldwide campaigners have been left unimpressed by the UN summit, with the young environmental activist Greta Thunberg calling the COP a “failure.”